Law School Sponsors Grads to Law Firms

The Test Drive program, which was introduced last May, has been a success thus far. Of the 48 recent graduates who participated in the program, 35 were offered permanent employment with their host employer. Six students from that group are still in the month-long trial period and three others are taking part in extended trial periods with the host employer. The remainder either did not receive permanent job offers or did not complete the Test Drive program.

Since 2007, the number of new graduates being offered permanent employment has been declining, according to the National Association of Law Placement. Law firms have been cutting back on costs and thus hiring fewer new associates while government and public interest organizations have been faced with major budget cuts. Recognizing that new graduates could use some help in the tight job market, SMU stepped in with the Test Drive program. However, not everybody is as enthusiastic about the program as the University seems to be. Skeptics see the program as a ploy to inflate the school's job-placement data in an effort to improve the school's US News and World Reports ranking. SMU insists that this is not the case.

SMU is not the only school to offer a school-sponsored job-placement program. For the past three years, Duke Law School has offered the Bridge to Practice program, in which recent graduates are paid to take on an eight-week fellowship with a legal employer. The goal of the program is for graduates to develop networking opportunities and valuable experience that will lead to a permanent job. The host employer is not expected to make an employment offer at the end of the program. Unlike the Test Drive program at SMU, which will be available to the class of 2011 and then cancelled if the job market opens up, Bridge to Practice is not economy-based. The program, which is funded by alumni donations as well as school money, is viewed as a permanent addition to Duke Law School's offerings.

Another similar program is the Legal Corps program offered by the University of Miami School of Law. The Legal Corps program provides $2,500 per month to graduates who take on public interest law jobs for the period of six months. The program, however, does not support private employers. Since the program's inception in January, 41 students have been placed with employers, such as the US Securities Exchange Commission in Washington. Although some graduates will be hired by their host employer, the true purpose of the program is to assist graduates in a rough job market, while providing needed legal assistance to public interest organizations.

While the SMU Test Drive program offers many benefits for the graduate and host employers alike, it also has a downside. The cost of the program is enormous, largely due to the fact that participants are permitted to extend the program for a second month if the host employer is considering a permanent job offer. The majority of 2010 program participants opted to extend the program into the second month. Funding for the program is drawn exclusively from school funds.

See Top Law Schools Analyzed and Ranked By America's Top Legal Recruiter Harrison Barnes for more information.